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If you offer to buy a deeper sink maybe they would install it for you. I now have a large deep stainless slop-type sink and it was ~$300 IIRC. I bet you could find something adequate for half that or so. Pick out the faucet too.

I don't think sink installation would really 'work'. I am in a very old, pre-civil-war building. (though it's not in it's original spot. It was torn down, carried brick by brick, and re-erected across town during the 1930's. Sheesh.) Could potentially upgrade the bathroom sink.

08-28-2015 04:56 PM

tomfromstlouis

If you offer to buy a deeper sink maybe they would install it for you. I now have a large deep stainless slop-type sink and it was ~$300 IIRC. I bet you could find something adequate for half that or so. Pick out the faucet too.

The standard way of getting water OUT of the tank with a python is sloppy; I use a power head in the tank to pump water out. Less splashing. Maybe this is all you need.

08-28-2015 04:45 PM

RomansFiveEight

Gotcha.

The sink I have access to nearest (unless I run down to the basement with a couple hundred feet of hose) is very shallow and I'm concerned the python would just make a mess.

It DOES have a floor drain and, trust me, there's quite a temptation to just take that off and stuff the hose down there and use a primer bulb for draining, then hook the python up for refilling! (Assuming it'll even FIT in the shallow sink).

They redid my office while I was on vacation. New paint, all new bookshelves, etc. I should've had them install a utility sink! Ha!

08-28-2015 03:21 PM

tomfromstlouis

My new office is a solo effort with a kitchenette, so I can string hoses around anytime. Back when I shared office space with others, a python after hours was the answer. I live close to my office so weekends were the time for real tank work, pruning, cleaning filters, etc.

08-28-2015 06:48 AM

RomansFiveEight

Okay so how are you handling water changes? I've been wanting to set something up in my office as well but am concerned about water changes. There is a bathroom 70 feet away with a small sink, but I don't know if that would work or not.

08-28-2015 05:27 AM

tomfromstlouis

Finally got a picture of the new look in the 220. The plants already hide most of the hardscape, but there are many more rocks in there and fewer plant species.

* These three have very similar thin vertical lines that repeat throughout the tank, a deliberate and perhaps confusing effect.

07-01-2015 06:56 PM

tomfromstlouis

Sordid details here, but the move did not go well. I lost 3 of my 9 angels to an ammonia spike two days after the move, an event I simply had not anticipated. Ignorance costs. It is particularly irritating that all the twice weekly water changes I have made over the past three years has come up one water change short of what it should have been. I cannot forgive myself.

Nevertheless, it is over and I am settled with a fine view of six survivors (two with ventral fin damage) cruising around a new scape. Pictures coming soon. It has way more hardscape and immature plantings, but a month or so should fill things in.

06-21-2015 07:39 PM

lamiskool

cant wait to see the new scape and gl with the move!!

06-21-2015 06:46 PM

tomfromstlouis

Okay, I am one week away from moving to a new office (with a six year lease, no more moves!). I am thinking about fresh scapes for all 3 tanks and hoping to improve all 3.

In the big tank, scape 2.0 was worse than 1.0 in almost every way. I reduced the hardscape for more plant room and ended up with almost no scape to speak of. Version 3.0 will have many more rocks; too many plants reduces swimming room for fish that are still getting bigger.

I have been treating the 75g as a kind of farm tank, holding species of plants I am reluctant to part with. Time to make some hard choices. Since it is where my crypts flourish, they will be the central focus.

The tiny 6g with its betta has been ignored from a scape standpoint for years. The new office will put this tank in a more prominent place and call for some structure. Low tech and fairly low light, the plants that thrive there do very well indeed so I hope I can form some kind of look with them.

Anyhow, I am already pulling plants and destroying what look I have now, so the next pictures will be fresh and young aquascapes.

You know that optimism that hope cultivates? I got it.

05-28-2015 09:32 PM

tomfromstlouis

Quickie phone photo of the current look in the 220g:

05-08-2015 07:40 PM

tomfromstlouis

This is a rather poor quality video, but it is my first video attempt and was only done with a smartphone. Possibly better than no video at all:

sweet tank tom! I live in st louis too! I just started a 55 gallon dirted rainbowfsh tank with low light plants and can't wait for it to grow in!

03-25-2015 12:57 AM

andrewss

very pretty great tanks

03-24-2015 05:52 PM

tomfromstlouis

I have always been able to grow plants in the 75g (in contrast to the 220g), and except for some bba, treating the 75g like a farm tank has worked out. Recently I just planted species I wanted to keep all around the 75, and it actually came out looking like something. Not an actual scape mind you, but more like a dutch inspired collectoritis tank:

Meanwhile I let the tiger lily dominate the surface of the 220g which shaded most of the tank and prompted a flowering of the tiger lily:

Pretty cool, but I will not be allowing the surface dominance required to repeat this performance; I want my other plants to live too.

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